Man Of My Dreams

He’s just pulling out the trays of tart shells to cool when the bell chimes.

“Lily Hahn!” He calls out in a sing-song voice. “You’re late!”

“I’m aware, Leo,” she grouses, peeling off her jacket.

“Okay, you sound particularly happy – whoa, what happened?” Leo gapes at his cousin, grimacing as she notes the wet floor behind her. “Did someone hit you with a water bomb or something?”

“If that were the case, I would be able to file a complaint.” Lily replies, gratefully accepting the spare towels Leo hands her and heading to the bathroom in the back. “But when the sky thinks it’s the perfect time for a random cloudburst, I’m not sure who I can sue.”

Leo grimaces in sympathy. “Rough,” he comments, grabbing a plastic bag from the supply cupboard. “Wait, hold on. You walked?”

“It was a nice day out!” She defends, before adding, “’was’ being the keyword. Anyhow, I’ll change real quick and mop up. Sorry I was late.”

“No worries, boss. Just focus on getting warm and dry. I’ll clean up.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to take time away from your baking.”

Leo waves his hand, playfully shooing her into the bathroom. Lily laughs, saluting with the plastic bag before closing the door. The moment the lock clicks, he sighs, worrying his lip as he fetches a mop from the kitchen.

His cousin is not the type of person to take a walk for such a banal reason. Lily Hahn is many things, but sentimental is not one of them. A nice day out may incite a perfunctory comment at best, immediately followed by some plan to utilize said weather for the café and its customers, like a surprise happy hour for iced drinks or a flash sale of iced fruit bars. Which is not a bad thing — especially since it has considerably boosted their Yelp rating and Instagram followers — but that's precisely why Lily's current predicament makes absolutely no sense.

Leo's always been the more sensitive of the two, and even though a small, logical voice in his head suggests that it's probably nothing, she may have misplaced her car keys or somehow improbably actually wanted to take a morning stroll, it's quickly drowned out by panic-driven suppositions that escalate so fast that he has to physically stop and take a deep breath. Then take another. Then take another two.

"So maybe less standing around and breathing and more mopping, buddy ol' pal." Lily grins at Leo’s startled expression and takes the mop from his hand. “Just kidding, here, I’ll finish up. You should go finish the tarts.”

He hesitates, a stack of questions ready to tumble out of his mouth, when the store phone makes itself known with a trill of notifications. She gestures at him, rolling her eyes. “I’ll tell you what happened during lunch, okay?”

Leo nods, satisfied, and rushes over to complete the lemon tarts. Lily shakes her head fondly, wringing the mop for a final sweep of the floor. Be late to work once in your life and your cousin immediately assumes you’ve a chronic illness or something equally ridiculous. Unhelpfully, at that point her mind chooses to supply her with flashbacks of last night’s dream, as if to suggest that Leo has a point. Which is even more ridiculous because dreams are just that – dreams. Even if she’s had this particular dream endless times since she can remember.

Lily shakes her head more vigorously at that particular statement; it doesn’t literally allow her to shake off the remnants of the dream or the possibilities of an endless rabbit hole of musings, but it helps. She rolls the mop and wringer back into the kitchen and whips up both of the orders – two vanilla lattes and a flat white – just in time for the delivery people to walk in. They exchange pleasantries as she deftly packs up the coffees and desserts, mainly exclaiming mutual surprise about the very sudden, very strange rain shower that passed on by.

“It’s a sign, I’m telling you,” Stephen, one of their regular delivery guys, says. “My great-grandma always said that sudden bursts of rain brought unexpected encounters of good fortune.”

“And I hope you have that unexpected encounter, Stephen. Maybe it’ll be the person who ordered this, who knows?” Lily replies, handing him the paper bag. Oblivious to her sarcasm, Stephen merely nods happily as he rushes out of the store.

“You know, one day he’s going to catch on.” Leo comments, emerging from the kitchen with a tray of chocolate cake slices.

“Hasn’t caught on since high school, so highly unlikely.” Lily snatches a slice and shoves it in her mouth in one fluid motion; he glares at her in mock anger, to which she responds with exaggerated motions of ringing up the slice on the POS. “Why my pastry chef is the stingiest one in the building, one will never know,” she mutters loudly, earning a soft whack on her shoulder.

“Because maybe I actually care about running this café, boss.”

“Point.”

The morning flies by in an endless stream of orders, coffees, teas, cakes, tarts, delivery drivers, and the occasional dine-in guests; Lily is so exhausted that when lunchtime rolls around all she wants is a big order of an hour nap, thanks. But Leo has already hung the Lunch Break sign on the door, laid out the lunch his mom has packed for them, and is now impatiently tapping at the table, staring pointedly at her. She sighs and trudges her way over to the small table, her mouth beginning to water against her will at the delicious smells attacking her nostrils.

“This is cheating,” Lily complains, picking up the chopsticks and serving herself a generous serving of everything. “How dare you lure me with Aunt May’s cuisine?”

“I mean, whatever works,” Leo says around a mouthful of rice, for which he receives a swift kick to the shins. He retaliates by chewing even more obnoxiously, smirking when Lily rolls her eyes and mimes throwing her chopsticks at him. He swallows and waits until the moment his cousin begins to chew. “Okay, spill. Chronic illness or heartbreak?”

Lily, to her credit, doesn’t blink an eye at the seemingly calculated attack; she chews slowly and swallows a mouthful of food. When she lifts a napkin to dab at the corners of her lips, Leo explodes in annoyance.

“Are you freaking kidding me?”

"I seem to recall someone saying, 'Whatever works.'" Lily smirks at him, but it quickly fades into fond exasperation. "For heaven's sake, Leo. I just couldn't find my car keys, that's all. And how did you even get to heartbreak? Do you even know me?"

Leo waves his hand testily, as if to brush aside her attempt to make a joke. "How long did you look for them?"

"Until I realized even if I leave now I'll still be five minutes late."

Leo hums, eyes narrowed at the brunette, who resumes shoveling food into her mouth. "It took you over 20 minutes to look for keys that you always place in the bowl in your kitchen?"

"It sounds strange, but I'm telling you, true." Lily deadpans, but all Leo does is scowl at her. "Dude. It's just car keys. I'm sure they're in the house—"

"Just car keys?" Leo interrupts.

"What?"

"'Misplaced' car keys." Leo says, drawing air quotes. "That's the only reason you're late today?"

She takes a deep breath, glancing away from her cousin's piercing eyes. She lasts about six seconds before she caves.

"Okay. Fine. It wasn't just car keys." She mumbles the last sentence but he's latched on tight, gesturing at her to continue. "...You know how Hamilton says 'I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory'?"

"Huh? Wait, what? Hamilton?"

She nods, undoing her bun and tying it back up in a ponytail. "I had this dream, I've had it before, but today was the second time this month and,"

"Is this the dream you told me about in middle school?"

Lily starts, looking at her cousin in surprise. “How do you remember that?”

“It was the most vivid description of death I’ve ever heard, how can I forget? Anyway, so you had the dream. And?”

“And every time I have this particular dream, something about my day becomes skewed somehow. It just doesn’t feel right, you know? But today was by far the worst. I woke up, almost slipped in the shower, couldn’t find my keys even though I hadn't touched them at all since yesterday, caught every red light, and then the sky poured a bucket of water down. I’m thanking God right now that the coffee machine hasn’t broken down.” She and Leo simultaneously knock on the wood of the table at the last statement, sharing a stifled laugh.

“Honestly, I’m amazed that you even made it to work.” Leo says, beginning to stack the empty Tupperware into a pile.

“Me too. Hopefully, that rain shower was the last of whatever all that was in the morning.” Lily replies, gathering up the cutlery to wash them in the sink. Leo joins her, humming thoughtfully.

“Well, you know, Hamilton did die, so maybe your dream will come true too!”

“…There are so many things wrong with that statement I don’t even know where to begin.”

“What! You brought up Hamilton!” Leo exclaims, scrubbing the Tupperware vigorously.

“And your response is ‘you’re going to die by being pierced with an arrow’?” Lily shakes the residue water off the cutlery, placing them back in the drawer and lifting a tray of mini chocolate cakes.

“No, stupid. I meant maybe you’ll find that man and fall in love.”

“I’d like to make a correction. This statement is far more ludicrous than your initial comment.” Leo flicks water at her, which she dodges nimbly, still shaking her head.

“I hate you.”

“You love me.” Lily grins and swipes a handful of soap suds from the dish the blond is holding, rubbing it all over his head. “Don’t scare the guests and stay in here, yeah?”

“Lily Nari Hahn I’m going to ki–” Leo’s threat is cut off by a loud chime that rings through the small café. “What was that?”

Lily shrugs, wiping her hands on the apron hanging by the kitchen door. “Did you order something?” Leo shakes his head, checking the wall clock. 1:45 p.m. They still had another 15 minutes left until the end of lunch; they usually began prepping around this time anyway, but for a customer or a delivery driver to come in around this time? Unlikely. Curiosity piqued, Leo sneaks up to the window on the kitchen door to see a tall man standing awkwardly by the counter.

It isn’t that his stance is awkward – he exudes a sort of lazy elegance in the way he holds himself – but it’s evident that he’s never been in this café, let alone in this neighborhood before. Leo watches Lily approach the man with an easy, if a bit strained, smile.

“Hello,” Lily greets the man, hoping her smile looks as fine as she does not feel.

“Hi,” he says, hurriedly scanning the menu behind her. “Could I get a large Americano?”

“Sure, here or to-go?”

“Here, please.”

He gazes at her intently as she rings up his order and takes his card from him to complete the transaction; Leo is jumping in excitement in the kitchen, certain that this tall, handsome man definitely has more than a passing interest in his cousin. But Lily is unfazed as she hands the man his card and receipt, asking him to sit anywhere he likes. Their fingertips brush against each other; Lily restrains herself from emitting a gasp, but only just. She seeks refuge in the coffee machine, turning her back on the man who has taken the couch seat at the table facing the counter.

What is the possibility of a random customer walking into your café looking exactly like the man who keeps promising his love for you in your dreams as your dream self dies, Lily wonders as she robotically pulls a shot of espresso and boils a pot of water. A flash of white catches the corner of her eye; Leo is flailing his arms, pointing back and forth between her and the man in uncontainable excitement.

‘Go check the cakes, idiot,’ she mouths at him and his eyes grow comically wide before he disappears from the round window. Carefully pouring out the espresso over the mug of hot water, Lily places the mug on a tray and carries it over to the man, whose thumbs are flying over the keyboard on his phone. “Here’s your Americano. Enjoy.”

“Oh. Thank you.” She turns away before they can make full eye contact again. Even if it’s a rare coincidence, the whole situation is nonetheless a bit unnerving. Thankfully, the counter phone comes to her rescue in a series of notifications and she runs into the kitchen. 

In between getting orders out and badgering Leo to place the desserts in the correct containers, she doesn’t realize that the man has long since disappeared until the last delivery driver heads out of the café. All that's left is an empty mug and a napkin, partially filled with scribbles that have been crossed out.

Leo emerges from the back, pulling on his jacket as Lily collects the mug. "Did he leave a note?"

"Oh, are you heading out? Thanks for covering for me in the morning, tell Aunt May lunch was delicious and she's welcome any time, coffee on the house."

"Can you stop ignoring me and answer my question?"

Lily throws an arm around his shoulder and marches him to the door, silencing his protests with a cheerful wave. Leo waves a fist back, ensuring his pursuit of finding his cousin a man of her dreams (pun probably intended) is far from over.

She closes up the shop, double checking that all the doors and windows are locked. Breaking into a brisk run, she pushes the thoughts of the man to the back of her mind until she lays in bed, trying to fall asleep. It’s just coincidence, she tells herself, throwing an arm over her eyes. Your brain remembers almost every face you see throughout your life; you might’ve seen him in passing somewhere else. It’s nothing. It’s nowhere close to reassurance, but it’s enough for her consciousness to finally drift away.

She dreams again.